ROCHESTER, N.Y. – The Elmira College men's volleyball team traveled to Rochester, NY for a conference matchup and the regular season finale against the Golden Flyers of Nazareth University on Wednesday evening. The Soaring Eagles fought hard but fell in the end, losing in three sets.

PLAY-BY-PLAY
The match opened with a pair of kills by Luke Jata to get the Soaring Eagles going, giving them an early 2-1 advantage. Jata tallied his third kill a bit later, this one assisted by Nick Rohman, but EC still trailed by one, 8-7. Ethan Davenport notched his first kill of the match as momentum continued to swing back and forth with Elmira now trailing by two. Drake Connors picked up a kill as Elmira continued to remain close cutting the deficit to one point, 13-12. The Golden Flyers scored three consecutive points as they opened the advantage to four. Jata's fourth kill of the contest took some momentum back for the Soaring Eagles. Another three-point run by Nazareth gave them a 19-13 advantage. Jata tallied another kill as Elmira looked to start a run to close the gap. The Golden Flyers closed out the opening set by scoring five out of six points and winning 25-18. Nazareth recorded the opening point of the second set. Connors added a kill to his total to even up the set at three a bit later. Three consecutive points by Nazareth gave them a three-point advantage, 7-4. A kill from Gabriel Staron sparked a three-point run for EC tying up the set at eight points. The Golden Flyers scored four consecutive points to put themselves in front by three, 13-10. The Soaring Eagles answered right back with four straight points including two kills from Jata and a kill from Rohman to retake the advantage by one. The Golden Flyers responded with three consecutive points as they regained the advantage, 16-14. Later, a service ace from Jata, the first service ace of the game for EC, evened up the second set at 18. Davenport tallied a kill in response to back-to-back points by Nazareth, cutting the deficit to one. The Golden Flyers fought back with four consecutive points to put themselves in front 24-20. The eighth kill of the match for Jata gave EC some momentum back. Nazareth closed out the second set with the next point, winning the set 25-21, and taking a 2-0 lead in sets.

The Soaring Eagles grabbed the opening point of the third set. Staron notched a kill, part of a four-point fun for EC, giving them an early 5-2 advantage in the third set. Nazareth responded with three straight points to even up the score at five. Elmira picked up another service ace, this one from Gabriel Staron, giving them a 7-5 advantage. Nazareth again rallied for three consecutive points to retake the advantage 8-7. A ninth kill by Jata was able to take some momentum back to for EC, as the Golden Flyer advantage was cut to one point. Elmira started up another three-point run with a kill by Staron to put themselves back in front by one point. George Flores Jr. picked up his first kill of the match to tie up the third set at 16. Davenport added a kill of his own as the score was then tied up at 17. Jata responded to two Golden Flyer points with a kill of his own to cut the deficit to one. Two more Nazareth points were again answered by a Jata kill, his eleventh of the match. Another kill from Jata and a service ace from Staron brought the Soaring Eagles within one point, trailing 24-23. The Golden Flyers picked up the following point, claiming the third set 25-23. Elmira rallied late in the set, but it wasn't enough, falling in this one 3-0.

LEADERS
Offensively, Jata led the way with 12 kills, while also picking up one assist and one service ace. Staron led the team with six digs, while totaling three kills, notching a pair of service aces, and four assists. Rohman recorded 13 assists, added three digs, and picked up a kill.